Victoria Constable falsifies two hundred and fifty eight thousand breath tests (Australian news photo)
The Victoria State Police Department admitted it was "very disappointed" that its officers had falsified more than two hundred and fifty thousand random breath tests over the past five years.
The Victoria State Police Department released an internal report on the evening of May 30, disclosing astonishing information, according to the Australian News Network. Of the 1.77 million preliminary roadside random breath tests conducted over the past five years, about 1.5 percent, or 258463, were forged by police officers.
Some police officers are said to perform breath tests on their own to meet job quota requirements so as not to stop drivers from performing breath tests.
After the astonishing figures were released, the Victoria Traffic accident Commission (TAC) announced a temporary freeze on its annual funding of $4 million to the Victoria State Police Department.
Assistant Director-General of the Victoria State Police Department Barrett (photo by Australian News Network)
At a press conference this morning, according to Barrett (Russell Barrett), Assistant Director-General of the Professional Standards Command of the Victoria State Police Service (PSC), The state traffic accident commission funded the state police department to help "reduce the trauma of road accidents," and to pay the state police for overtime during the holiday.
At the end of last year, when the state traffic accident committee raised concerns about possible problems with breath test data, the state police launched "one of the most complex and lengthy data surveys in history."
Barrett announced that the state police will now launch the largest work guidance campaign. The Professional Standards Command will travel to all police stations and communicate with all police officers to explain "why this is wrong, what is the responsibility of the officers, and why we need community trust and support."
Barrett could not confirm whether any local police department assigned breath test workload to police officers, saying all officers should enforce road regulations effectively. He also declined to speculate about the exact cause of the officer`s falsification of breath tests, although he did not think there was a "financial incentive".
Barrett said the state police would ensure that such misconduct "will not happen again."
The state police association allegedly defended its members as overworked and underresourced after the publication of the internal report of the state police.
